U.S.|Devastated by California Fire, Paradise Finds a Way to Give Thanks

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Devastated by California Fire, Paradise Finds a Way to Give Thanks

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Members of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection served meals from a relief kitchen set up by World Central Kitchen in Chico, Calif., on Thursday.CreditCreditJason Henry for The New York Times

Before a fire demolished their town, Rowdy Shaw and Shanna Shaw had planned to host nine guests for Thanksgiving at their new home, off Lucky John Road in Paradise, Calif. The Shaws had moved into the house just four months earlier, to be close to the community’s resources for their daughter, Chelsea, who has Down syndrome, and close to Mr. Shaw’s employer, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

Like so many families, they thought about what they needed to stock up on, and what chores had to get done before their guests arrived. They looked forward to sitting down with bellies full of turkey and watching “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” as they do every year. But two weeks before Thanksgiving, they joined a caravan of evacuees leaving town in buses and cars, with a fire raging around them.

Their new home burned to the ground. On Thanksgiving, instead of hosting dinner, the family left their room at the Residence Inn in nearby Chico to fill out paperwork with FEMA, apply for new social security cards and look for a deed to their home. Like thousands of other displaced families, their annual traditions had been thrown into disorder, but they found some warmth.

A team of volunteers smoked turkey in a parking lot at California State University, Chico.CreditJason Henry for The New York Times

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CreditJason Henry for The New York Times

World Central Kitchen set up a relief kitchen in Chico, cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for about 10,000 to 15,000 people. Volunteers included the chefs José Andrés, Guy Fieri, Tyler Florence, Jenn Louis and Tim Kilcoyne, as well as evacuees who wanted to serve food and a crew of about 30 from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, who had been on the front lines of fighting the flames for the last week and a half.

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Volunteers, including the chef Guy Fieri, organized and cooked meals for 10,000 to 15,000 people.CreditJason Henry for The New York Times

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The feast included everything from green beans to cranberry sauce.CreditJason Henry for The New York Times

They delivered food to shelters, community centers and other places where fire victims gathered on Thursday, to tuck into heaping plates of Thanksgiving classics and share stories of loss, luck and grit.

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Chelsea Shaw, 28, left, with her parents Shanna Shaw, 54, and Rowdy Shaw, 52, ate with about 800 others at a former Sears department store.CreditJason Henry for The New York Times

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Rowdy Shaw, 52, ate his thanksgiving meal in between applying for federal aid and replacing important documents.CreditJason Henry for The New York Times

Inside the old Sears department store in the Chico mall, the Shaw family sat down for a hot meal alongside about 800 others. “We’re feeling pretty blessed,” Mr. Shaw said.

Correction:

An earlier version of this article misstated the timing of the departure of a caravan of fire evacuees. It was two weeks before Thanksgiving, not one week before.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: They Lost Everything They Owned, but Still Found Reasons to Be Grateful. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe